Custom Arc earphones may suit riders

HelloEar Arc custom earphones are claimed to stay put – even when you pull your motorcycle helmet on – are cheaper than personally moulded earphones and you won’t need a professional fitter to make a mould of your ear.

Instead, the company uses a database of “hundreds of thousands” of ear shapes gathered from four years of research with the Tsinghua University from people all over the world.

Database of ear moulds

Just send them photos of your ears with a coin placed beside them for comparison measurements and they reckon they can work out the exact shape of your ear. Within a week they will send you earphones that they claim are a perfect fit.

No need to have a personal mould done or wait for them to be produced. Just photograph your ears!

Crowd funding

The Chinese company received five times their target of $50,000 in a crowd-funding campaign through their Seattle affiliate to bring their product to market.

I’m sceptical of all crowd-funding projects, even though this one is based on university research.

So I decided to contact them.

They said they hadn’t thought about the possibility of the earphones being used by riders, but were delighted by the idea.

They quickly accepted my offer to beta-test a set which shows confidence in their product.

So I sent them a couple of photographs of my ears and will update this article with a review when the Arc earphones arrive.

Earphone experience

Earmold earphones

I use Earmold earphones on long motorcycle rides. They reduce tiring and dangerous background noise so you don’t have to turn up the volume to deafening levels to hear music or a phone conversation above the road and wind noise.

They are big enough to fill your entire ear cavity and reduce damaging, annoying and fatiguing wind and road noise. They are also very soft and only become slightly uncomfortable at the end of a long day in the saddle.

HelloEar Arc custom-fit earphones

Arc earphones are made with a soft silicone housing they call an “airbag” and a silica earbud on the inner end, so they should also be flexible and comfortable.

However, they appear to be smaller than the Earmold earphones, so we are not sure yet of their ability to reduce background noise.

Arc earphones feature a plug that allows you to leave the earphones in and remove the cable. We are a bit concerned about the comfort level when wearing a helmet as they stick out a bit. I suppose it depends on your helmet and whether it has an ear cavity.